Mass. health office backs off proposal to use 27 beds at Taunton State Hospital

The Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services backed off a preliminary plan to use 27 of the 45 beds that will be retained at Taunton State Hospital as part of forensic units for short-term psychiatric evaluations that are ordered by court.

The Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services backed off a preliminary plan to use 27 of the 45 beds that will be retained at Taunton State Hospital as part of forensic units for short-term psychiatric evaluations that are ordered by court.

The proposal for 27 forensic beds to make up most of the 45 total beds to remain at Taunton State was reportedly discussed at an August 1 meeting with Department of Mental Health nurses.

The State Legislature voted in July to ensure that Taunton State retain 45 continuing care beds for long-term care, overriding a veto by Gov. Deval Patrick who desired to completely shut down Taunton State.

"The state was trying to pull the wool over everyone's eyes," said Brenda Venice, head of the Greater Fall River chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. "The legislation doesn't state anything about forensic."

Venice and other supporters of Taunton State opposed Patrick's original plan of taking away all of the 169 beds at Taunton State and shifting them to the new Worcester Recovery Center and Hospital along with another facility in Teswksbury. They emphasize that there is already a shortage of continuing care beds throughout the state and that there needs to be continuing care beds in southeastern Massachusetts, Cape Cod and the Islands.

"We were just appaled by the attempt to use 27 of the beds for forensic," said David Schildmeier, spokesperson Massachusetts Nurses Association, who represents nurses working at Taunton State. "They were trying to go against the spirit of what the Legislature wanted them to do, and what the mentally ill served by that facility require. We are very encouraged to see that they changed their plan and we hope they continue to follow the letter of the legislative law."

The 45 continuing care beds to stay at Taunton State was the result of a compromise of state legislators, who first considered keeping 72 beds open at the Taunton facility after an initial fight by the South Coast delegation and other who wanted to keep the total 169 beds.

State Sen. Marc Pacheco, D-Taunton, who has helped lead the effort in the Senate to keep Taunton State open, said that he is glad the state reversed course, because the legislation that was passed — vetoed by Patrick, before that action was overridden by state lawmakers — specifically said the 45 beds to remain at Taunton State shall be continuing care beds.

"I am pleased that they are going to be adhering to what the law actually says that they must do under the budget agreement that was adopted," Pacheco said. "We had a line that specifically references the number of beds at a minimum that must be utilized for continuing care beds for the state so that our region will have some beds available to the southeast and for Cape Cod and the Islands."

Page 2 of 2 -
State health officials said that plan to incorporate 27 forensic beds at Taunton State as part of the total 45 was not the final plan.

Alec Loftus, communications director for the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, said that the state is abiding by what the Taunton State legislation requires. He added that the state is also working with state lawmakers on legislation that was passed ordering a study of the Massachusetts mental health care system.

“We are in the process of transitioning to 45 continuing care beds at Taunton, which is in keeping with the intent of the legislation," Loftus said. "There will not be forensic admissions at Taunton as part of this plan. We will also work with the Legislature to study the continuing care needs statewide to ensure we are meeting the best interests of the individuals we serve.”

Schildmeier, of the Massachusetts Nursing Association, said that "we hope the study will add a number of beds in Taunton and throughout the system."

Pacheco said that he suspects that at first state Health and Human Services officials likely did not understand that the language in the compromise legislation to keep 45 beds at Taunton State only referred to continuing care beds. He said that the state likely tried to have 27 of the 45 beds to remain as part of forensic unit because they realized — like Taunton State supporters — that the location is a valuable resource in the area for law enforcement and the justice system.

"Cases for patients in the forensic unit are court involved in some way," Pacheco said. "The sheriff's department or police departments and even judges within the region will end up having to go to another region of the state thereby taking a lot of time away from the duties that they otherwise would be performing in this region. It would end up costing taxpayers more to have the forensic care beds transferred farther away within the mental health system. ... I don't think they realized at the time that the language of the legislation, that passed when veto was overridden, that they shall be continuing care beds."

Pacheco said the best outcome would be if Patrick decided to fund forensic unit beds in addition to the continuing care beds required by legislation, for a total of about 70 beds at Taunton State.

"I think it's important for us to continue to ask them now for the forensic unit in addition to 45 beds," he said. "I think moving the forensic beds will cost more money than keeping them where they are. The forensic care unit at Taunton has an outstanding record of doing fantastic work there."